AACTM Bylaws (1992)
with Proposed Changes (1992)
and Discussion (2005)

I. Name and Object. The name of this organization shall be the Alabama Association of College Teachers of Mathematics. Its aim shall be to raise the standards in all matters that affect the teaching of mathematics in the state of Alabama.

II. Membership. Any full or part-time teacher of mathematics in any school of collegiate rank in Alabama is eligible for membership in the Association. Any person eligible for membership may vote at any meeting at which he/she is present.

III. Officers.
A. The officers of this Association shall be a President, a Vice-President, and a Secretary-Treasurer.
B. The President and Vice-President shall be elected by a majority vote of thoss present at the annual meeting. The Secretary-Treasurer shall be appointed by the President. At least one month before the annual meeting the Prsident shall appoint a nomination committee of three members. This committee shall report a list of one or more nominees for each of the offices to be filled by election.
C. The duties of the President shall be to call and to preside at all meetings of the Association and of the Executive Council. The President shall have such usual powers of supervision and management as may pertain to the office of President or as shall be assigned to him/her by the Executive Council.
D. The duties of the Vice-President shall be to assist the President and to assume the duties of the President should he/she be unable to perform them himself/herself.
E. The duties fo the Secretary-Tresurer shall be to keep minutes and records and to assist the President in such correspondence as he/she shall direct. He/She shall handle such funds as may become available to the organization and shall keep a record of all receipts and expenditures.

IV. Executive Council. There shall be an Exeutive Council consisting of the President, the Vice-President, the retiring President, and two other members to be elected in alternate years by a majority vote of those present at the annual meeting. The council chall be called into session by the President at least once before the annual meeting for the purpose of dicussing the bolicies of the organization so that recommendations concerning these policies may be made at the annual meeting.

V. Meetings. There shall be an annual meeting of the organization and such other called meetings as shall be deemed necessary by the President on the advice of the Executive Council.

VI. Amendment. These bylaws may be ammended by a two-thirds vote of those present at any meeting. Notice of such meeting shall be given by the President at least two weeks prior to the meeting.

III. Officers.
A. The officers of this Associaion shall be a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer.
B. The President, Vice-President, and Treasurer shall be elected by a majority vote of those present at the annual meeting. The Secratary shall be appointed by the President.
E. The duties of the Secretary shall be to keep minutes and records and to assist the President in such correspondence as he shall direct.
F. The duties of the Treasurer shall be to handle such funds as may become available to the organization and to keep a record of all receipts and expenditures. The Treasurer may be elected to serve consecutive terms.

The Constitution and By-Laws of the Alabama Journal of Mathematics specify the election by AACTM of members of the Board of Directors. It has been suggested that the By-Laws of the AACTM accurately reflect those of the Journal. Proposed changes:

VII. Board of Directors of the Alabama Journal of Mathematics.
The Board of Directors is structured so that four (4) of the Directors shall be members of the AACTM. The election to the offices of President and Vice President of AACTM shall contitute election to teh Board of Directors of the Journal and the remaining to Directors from AACTM shall be elected by the members at the time of the regular election of officers. A Director shall hold office for the term for which he/she was elected by AACTM and/or until his/her successor has been duly elected. A Director may be elected to more than one successive term. An exception is in the case of those Directors elected by virtue of their election as President or Vice-President. Their terms shall not extend beyond the time they actually hold office.

• The above Bylaws specify (IV) that the Executive Council members are elected in alternate years, presumably one elected each year for a two-year term. In recent practice, the Executive Council members have both been elected each year to one-year terms.
• The Bylaws specify (III.B.) that the President appoints a Nominating Committee. In recent practice, the Nominating Committee has been chaired by the Vice-President and has consisted of the Vice-President and those members appointed by the Vice-President to assist in compiling a list of nominations.
• The Proposed Changes above (III.) particularly specify the introduction of the office of Secretary, to be appointed by the President. In recent practice, we have not had a Secretary, and we seem to get along fine without one.
• The Bylaws do not specify that a Treasurer's Report should be read into the record at the annual business meeting. We have been receiving such reports each year, and it may be a good idea to codify this practice.
• The Bylaws do not specify the recent practice that the Vice-President automatically gets the nomination for the office of President the following year.
• The Bylaws do specify (III.D.) that the Vice-President shall assume the duties of the President if the President becomes unable to perform them, but it makes no provision for the appointment of a new Vice-President in this case.
• The Proposed Changes make a lengthy discussion (VII.) regarding the relationship between the AACTM and the Board of Directors of the Journal. To my knowledge, this has not been practiced in recent years.
• The Proposed Changes mention the Parker/Lewis Lectureship (today referred to as the "Lewis-Parker Lecture"). However, no mention is made of the role of AACTM in hosting the lecture or selecting the lecturer. A discussion of the selection process caused some consternation within the AACTM a couple of years ago, and the practice upon which we settled at that time, based on recollection of what the AACTM Bylaws were supposed to have said on this issue, was that the selection committee would consist of the President, the retiring President, the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal, and the previous year's Lecturer. In practice, the previous year's lecturer seems to have little to contribute to such selection. On the other hand, other officers and Executive Council members often do have helpful suggestions for Lecturers.
• There is no explicit provision in the Bylaws for the President to appoint people to positions such as Webmaster. It is not clear whether such provisions are necessary, but it may be worth discussing.
• The original document did not include the "he/she" style language -- this was added on entering the document in 2005 for review and Web publication.